Capturing Spirits
by sam2934
Summary: An assumed betrayal by Jack leaves him alone in a dark tunnel. But something is stirring deep within it. Of all the tunnels he just had to choose this one. Can the Guardians gain forgiveness and save Jack; all while making it out alive in the process. The T rating is just for caution however there is some violence
1. Chapter 1

_**For the record I don't own Rise of the Guardians or any of those characters**_

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_****FLASHBACK****_

Jack was walking along a snow-covered road in the middle of winter. He glanced up and gave a satisfied smile. He had taken a full day to create the perfect snow day. Each and every snow flake was perfectly formed and floated down gently on the quiet wind. A full 7 feet of snow-covered the entire city of New York. Snowball fights were going in all around him and with a grace only Jack Frost could muster, he dodged every single snowball. Leaping and ducking under the balls of ice, laughing the entire time. This continued until the wind picked him up and carried him away. That's where it all began

****END OF FLASHBACK****

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"You're just a waste of space: the Man in the Moon could have chosen anyone but no, he had to choose you!"

"Jack how could you do this we trusted you?!"

"Get out of my sight you good for nothing mistake"

"Look at what you've done Jack, all this destruction; you never deserved to be a guardian!"

All these words whirled in his head as Jack trembled and snuggled up against the wall. His blue frostbitten hoodie was pulled over his head as he tried to pull deeper into himself. He gripped his staff so tightly the blood couldn't get to his fingers, he looked down at his staff and thought of all the destruction it probably had caused and threw it to the other side of the tunnel. Yes, a tunnel…. it was the closest thing to isolation as he could get. Outside the tunnel in question, north wind was whistling for the young spirit to come out and play with it. A never-ending snowfall surrounded the area around the cave, mirroring Jacks internal battle.

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Bunnymund sat outside North's workshop "making egg bombs "with a deep frown etched on his face, however his mind was not on eggs, they were all on Jack. All he could think about was what he had said to the boy. He hadn't meant to hurt Jack, because even if he wouldn't admit it Jack had become his best friend, a sort of younger brother maybe. In spite of the fact that he knew how little his friend thought of himself; he'd called him a mistake. He was just so angry at the youngest Guardian because of the hospitalized boy it had clouded his self-control. Jacks eyes had been full of guilt, remorse, and self-hate, emotions that should never be found on a face so young and innocent. But he didn't notice because he was too busy taking his anger out on the reason for the anger in the first place. He continued "making egg bombs" until he heard North yelling at them to come to his office.

North sat in his office alone pretending to work on toys. But in reality all he could think about was that conversation with Jack earlier that day. The more time he to think about his words the more he regretted them. He wanted the child to acknowledge his actions and feel the consequences for them but the words spoken earlier were un-called for. He just couldn't believe how irresponsible the other had been, I mean he hospitalized a child. How on earth could Jack have been that…his thoughts trailed off as he realized he could find out exactly what happened. Thanks to the new and improved snow globe the other Guardians had helped him build. This particular globe allowed you to see what has happened in the last day or two. He called in the other Guardians to watch with him.

Curse Tooth's mothering nature, sometimes it just caused problems. She fluttered back and forth from her window checking if Jack was coming. She couldn't concentrate on getting ready for the nights tooth gathering without her thoughts wandering to how worried she was about Jack. She felt so bad for him at the moment it was all she could do not to drop everything and go comfort the child in a huge bear hug. The image of Jack with unshed tears forming in his guilt filled eyes. She decided she was going to talk to North about it. Silently she slipped off to North's office.

Sandy floated above his sand castle silently ranting to himself. The look on Jacks face as a result of the words spoken to him by the others haunted him. Even Sandy himself had formed pictures above his head raving at Jack and telling him off. His blue eyes were full of tears as he and the other guardians had stormed off. He continued thinking about all this as he mindlessly created little sand dolphins (Jack liked those) until he looked up sharply upon seeing North's lights illuminating the sky. He immediately began his way towards North's shop, worrying out of his mind about the young spirit.

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**Please review, this is my first story and I would love some feedback**

**Thanks for reading, I'll try and update soon**

**P.S. sorry for any grammar or spelling errors**


	2. Chapter 2

When all the Guardians arrived, the scene in North's office was a strange one. North sat hunched over staring very intently at a cloudy snow globe. Half eaten cookies were strewn about the floor along with various toys. Elves were trying to sneakily snatch a few cookies but a yeti shood them away.

"Uhhh what's up mate?" inquired Bunny

"I've called you all here to see what really happened with that storm earlier today I've not seen anything yet so…." Murmured North quietly

"Ohh yeah I had forgotten about that old snow globe we all made, why we didn't think of it before I don't know I mean really…we should've…"Tooth continued until she was cut off by Bunny impatiently saying that we should get started.

"I agree…... show us Jack Frost yesterday at the storm time," said North into the globe.

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The globes insides began to sparkle and swirl until in a flash of brilliant blue light a clear image,

_Jack skillfully dodging snowballs left and right appeared. The scene behind him was beautiful, a snow-white city, with perfect little snowflakes lazily drifting down to the ground, and trees with snow powdering their tops. Children all around him were throwing snowballs and laughing when they got hit. Suddenly the wind seemed to grow stronger and picked Jack up and carried him away. Jack didn't seem like he wanted to go but he didn't deny the wind, something needed his help._

_They continued flying when suddenly Jack was thrown of course by a rogue wind current. Jack was flung lower and lower towards the ground until he collided with a building with a sickening! THUMP! He was held there by the spirits of fall, spring, and summer all with smirks on their faces. _

_Spring looked to be about 23, 25 she had blond hair with flowers woven into them her eyes were a light green. Summer was a brunette who looked the same age as Spring; here hair had colored streaks in it and she had dark green eyes. Fall also looked around the same age as the others but he had bright red, orange hair and was small for his age, but not skinny enough to be considered Jack type skinny._

_Jack soon began to gasp for air, they could all see Jack's face turning red from lack of air and smiled even wider. They dropped him to the ground and laughed as he began coughing._

_"You ruined our chances of becoming Guardians you know"_

_"Were 10 times better than you, so how come you got chosen"_

_"It's not fair you get an entire season to yourself, you don't deserve that power, and because of how we suffered from unfairness you will suffer to"_

_"We're going to command wind to carry your precious snow towards another city; it will eventually turn to a blizzard even you can't control, not since we technically created it"_

_"Don't you'll hurt people, "choked out Jack who was still on the ground gasping for air. Summer saw him reaching for his staff and kicked it away. She let out a screech when her foot was encased in ice from the extremely cold staff. She made a move towards Jack but Spring stopped her and motioned for Fall to finish._

_"And who will be to blame, it's not like we can create snow right? "Fall smiled evilly and picked Jack up, together they all flew off._

_From then on the image was hazy for the high-speed winds mixed with Jacks snow being carried over to another city obstructed the view. In brief glimpses of the inside of the storm Jack could be seen trying in vain to stop the spirits. He managed one by one to knock the spirits down. The Guardians saw one spirit at a time falling out of the storm and hurtling down towards the ground; ice trails falling behind them. After what seemed like ages the wind released Jack and he was lowered to the ground. In an hours' time Jack had finally managed to calm the storm and rid the poor city of all the snow. The image faded slowly out as Jack fell back in exhaustion._

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**Okay the next chapter should be longer but for now, this is all I've got**

**Enjoy!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Alright guys so some of the story after this is going to be rather violent. But dont worry it will get sunnier towards the end, not a sappy happy ending but still... I'll try not to leave the chapters to much on violent scenes cause I always hated having to think about the violent parts to much. Unless of course it makes an awesome cliffhanger : )**

**Sorry if this is'nt your thing but...here's the next chapter**

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During the image North had stood up, but when it ended he fell back into his chair which was pushed forward by yetis. He collapsed with a look of shock and guilt. He had accused the boy he had begun to think of as a son, for something he didn't do. Not to mention, he definitely had some choice words for Mother Nature concerning her little helpers. Plump tears ran down his rosy cheeks as he wallowed in guilt. He made a silent vow to make it up to him somehow.

For Tooth it was as if all the oxygen in the room had been sucked out, because she fell to the ground silently sobbing. She had said terrible things to a child, just a boy, things that no adult should even have ever said to them. This made Tooth sob even harder, all she could hope for was that Jack would come back as he normally does and be the happy mischievous child she had grown to think of as a son. And when he trusted them again, they'd all go kick those spirits' butts into next year.

Sandy at seeing the image of the storm's cause promptly flew out into the hallway to think alone. He should have known Jack would never hurt a child, in fact he's known him longer that any of the other Guardians have. But no, he let his anger get the best of him and probably destroyed Jack's trust for good. He decided that next time he saw Jack he was gonna get a full-fledged apology and a giant hug. And he'd probably scare the poo out of some certain seasonal spirits along the way.

Bunny stared angrily at the floor; he was clenching his boomerang so tightly, he was trembling. He was so overrun with guilt at what he had said he couldn't think straight; all he could hope for was that Jack would forgive them all so that Bunny could apologize. And somehow make it up to him. His thoughts wandered to the other season spirits and he let out a menacing growl. He was gonna have them cooked up on the Barbie and stuffed in an easter basket after what they did to Jack and the child. No one was allowed to hurt his new friend... no one who wanted all their limbs attached anyways.

Remorse, worry, blistering fury and guilt; those were the only feelings present in the room. Remorse at what they had done to a child. They'd written him off as a mistake and went as far as to tell him that. They'd cast out the youngest spirit, the baby of the family. They could only imagine how terrible the youngest guardian was feeling. They would let this blow over and then maybe, just maybe the he would forgive them.

* * *

Little did they know what the other was actually going through. Because, meanwhile, In Pitch's lair Jack small form hung limply from the walls. His staff lay in pieces on the floor, broken by Pitch. Blood covered the small boy's body as Pitch strode back and forth taunting him.

"They're right you know, all you really are, have ever been… is a mistake." said Pitch darkly. "They have just chosen now to voice it, the only reason they kept you around for this long is because you have power."

"No! That's not true they care for me…they…they….." Jack trailed off as he thought of the things the Guardians had said…

"Now I'll ask you again….will…..you…join…me?" Jack shook his head and Pitch became annoyed.

"They don't care for you and you shouldn't care for them…now….I want you to join me …..and betray those filthy Guardians you call family." said Pitch menacingly.

Again Jack shook his head no. "Well, you'll maybe change your mind after I'm through with you... And when your precious Guardian buddies come to save you, I'll let them watch just so they know never to mess with PITCH!" he said with much hatred and anticipation. Jack's eyes grew worried for the Guardians and Pitch laughed gleefully.


	4. Chapter 4

A day has passed and the Guardians guilt only grew. They thought of how to make it up the young spirit they had grown to love, the very spirit they had almost broken. "Maybe if we just go and apologize one at a time he'll forgive us." thought North, as he sat in his office.

"AAAAAhhh I know!" he exclaimed merrily. "I'll check the globe to see where he went then we can come up with a plan to make it up to him…" He picked up the snow globe and yelled "Show me Jack Frost after our confrontation!"

* * *

The globe began to sparkle and swirl familiarly but that did nothing to prepare him to the scene he was met with.

_Jack sat in a tunnel, huddled up against the wall with his frosty blue hood pulled up over his face; A gesture he only did when he wanted to hide from the world. His face was hidden in his hands and he was trembling visibly as he cried. Ice formed around his shaking form, something that the Guardians have only seen happen twice; each time it was a result of a huge internal battle._ North slumped back in his chair as tears began to flow for the second time this week. He continued watching until something caught his eye; a black silky tendril was slowly drifting towards Jack.

"Look out!" Shouted North even though he knew Jack couldn't hear him.

_It enveloped Jack and the young spirit fell back into a nightmare filled sleep._

At that moment Tooth, Bunny, and Sandy all came rushing in at the sound of North's shout.

"What's wrong, is it Jack, is he here!?" Started Bunny frantically as he looked around. He didn't see Jack and his ears drooped.

"Yes, yes, it's Jack look." he said as he gestured to the globe.

_In the globe the image of Jack tossing and turning in his sleep was shown, they all stared at the boy until a black shadow crossed in the background. _

"Pitch." Bunny murmured menacingly.

_The image continued until in a puff a black smoke; Jack was gone._

"OH no, not Jack No…no!" sobbed Tooth.

_Then as quickly as that happened the image was cut off._

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"NO! He's blocked out the rest….stupid Pitch!" shouted Bunny angrily.

"Calm down, calm down let's think through this, this happened three days ago so….he's only been hostage for three days counting today. "Said North in an authoritative voice.

"CALM DOWN, CALM DOWN... my little boy!*ahem ahem* Jack has been captured by Pitch, who knows what he's doing to him!" Screeched Tooth loudly.

Sandy was forming rescue pictures above is head frantically with a scared expression on his normally cheerful face.

"I know! I know!" Shouted North so loudly that everyone paused. "We will go rescue him, but first….. What does Jack have that Pitch might need?"

"Well, he does have so pretty strong powers…."admitted Bunny grudgingly.

"Yes, yes but what else?" Sandy began forming images of Jack as a fearling.

"Right good thinking Sandy! Although if that was the case, he would have done it already and we would have seen Jack as a fearling or otherwise. "Said North semi-casually.

"Well couldn't Pitch just force Jack to become a fearling." said Tooth thoughtfully.

Sandy started forming images that seemed to be trying to say 'Uh O not good',

"Well I suppose he could but Jack would only be as powerful as a normal fearling, if he joins himself and is not mentally forced he can keep his powers. Said North deep in thought.

"Jack would never give in to Pitch, he's our friend." Said Tooth in almost a pleading voice. Sandy's expression seemed to say…. some friends we were to him.

"Uhhh guys… you might wanna look at this "said Bunnymund who was zoning out thinking about Jack. The Guardians gasped (except for Sandy who can't) when they saw what Athser was referring to. North's globe which showed all the believing children and all the immortals was slowly losing a light. Jacks light. As they looked at it they saw that the pale blue light was flickering. And North could have sworn that every time it flickered; it became just a bit duller. The others stared at it until the realized what it meant, Jack was hurt, badly. North, Tooth and Sandy began plans to save Jack, but Bunny became impatient and yelled.

"Alright Lets GO IM TIRED OF WAITING AND JACK NEEDS HELP NOW!"

They all hopped in the sleigh and began after the little blue light on North's GPS. The entire ride was silent, and not even Bunny complained about North's rough, jerky driving.

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**See a cliffhanger...**

**Muhahahaha**

**Next chapter is coming up soon, but meanwhile don't forget to review**


	5. Chapter 5

**This is a thankyou to my friend Kittythekatty for helping me out with grammar issues**

**Here's the next chapter...Enjoy**

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Meanwhile, in **QUICK GUESS WHERE** yep Pitch's lair.

"Forget it Pitch…I'm not going to betray my famil…the Guardians." said Jack in a pained, unsure voice.

"That's sad….we'll just have to work harder…..perhaps a little more pain…I do love watching people scream!" Pitch said with a laugh.

He looked up at Jack who had his head hung in exhaustion,

"Ah ah! No sleeping, we're not finished here yet." He gripped Jack's face forcing him to look at him. His long black nails dug into his pale face leaving crimson trails on his cheeks. Pitch smiled at the look of pain on the young spirits face, he stared into the boys icy blue eyes which despite his obvious pain were still full of an angry look of defiance.

"You know I've been working on perfecting an old type of nightmare…I just refer to it as a special nightmare…..ever heard of it…...no…well it's the most terrible nightmare the receiver can possibly have. Except unlike all the other normal nightmares this one is so close to real, that if you are injured in any way whilst in the dream it will be inflicted on yourself outside the dream; and not only that… it's impossible to wake from the nightmare until it's totally over. "Said Pitch with a satisfied evil glare present on his dark face.

Jack looked up through his milky bangs, and Pitch was delighted to see an inkling of fear bleeding into his defiant eyes; this however was quickly attempted to be covered up by more defiance.

"Why don't we test it, shall we "immediately Pitch began summoning a massive amount of black dream sand; when he seemed satisfied at the amount he directed it towards the hanging Jack.

It made contact with Jack, and Jack screamed. He screamed and screamed until all the sand had been absorbed. The screaming stopped and Pitch looked up with a disappointed look on his face, what no more….o well it will start again shortly, he thought.

"Take him to the dungeon," said Pitch who was looking down at his work once more. he waved his hand and a few of his fearling minions stepped forward to take the boys limp form to the dungeon when, the Guardians busted through the door with weapons raised.

"Give us Jack and no one gets hurt! "Boomed Bunny menacingly.

"The guardians what a surprise…I wasn't expecting you here, "Said a truly puzzled and mildly surprised Pitch.

"Why wouldn't we come, you have the youngest member of our family, of course we came NOW HAND HIM OVER, "said Tooth indignantly.

"Well sorry but the way you treated Jack it didn't seem as though you cared for him at all, "retorted Pitch in a clever tone.

That single statement hit all the Guardians like a sand bag (a big one). They had acted like that, hadn't they? While the Guardians were silently wallowing in their guilt, Pitch signaled for the fearlings to close in. By the time the Guardians noticed, they were surrounded. Before Bunny even had time to throw a boomerang they were knocked out by some of the fearlings. As they slowly blacked out they heard Pitch saying something about putting them all in the dungeon, and they saw a glimpse of a small limp figure with silver hair turn the corner. The last thought they all thought was, Is that Jack?, I hope he's okay, well I hope I'll be okay too. Then it all faded away into inky blackness.

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**DREAMLAND**

_Jack woke up and looked around; he was in Burgess he thought. Only no one was there it was totally abandoned, and it was….destroyed. Houses were piles of rubble and buildings were crumpling. _

_"Hello. Heellooooo?" called Jack. _

_He heard a sound and turned around. He was so surprised to see the Guardians he stumbled back and fell on his butt. _

_"It's your fault you know" hissed Bunny. _

_"What's my fault?" Jack asked confusedly. _

_"THE STORM YOU CAUSED THAT KILLED EVERYONE IN THIS TOWN" thundered North. _

_"But I never…." _

_Started Jack only to be shoved over by Sandman, who was forming images above head faster than you could understand with a furious expression on his face. _

_"YOU KILLED THEM ALL JACK, ALL THOSE CHILDREN!" screeched Tooth. _

_"No, no I didn't AAhhhhhhhh!" screamed Jack in pain as he was kicked in the ribs by Bunny. _

_"Noo, noo, I didn't AAAhhhhhh!"  
He screamed this time as result of Sandy's whips. _

_"YOU WILL BE PUNISHED, YOU USELESS GUARDIAN" boomed North as he brought out his swords. _

_Jack tried to scramble out-of-the-way but was cornered by the Guardians. He squeezed his eyes shut, he cried out when he felt the swords make contact with his body, leaving deep red mark all over his chest and arms. Tooth picked up his staff and carelessly snapped it, saying _

_"You never deserved this power you're worthless". Jack screamed out in agony as he felt part of himself being ripped apart. He slumped against the wall and began to lose consciousness, as his eyesight faded he heard, JACK, JACK WAKE UP, I'M SORRY PLEASE WAKE UP!_

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**MEANWHILE IN THE CELL**

North and the other Guardians (not including Jack) woke up to a heart wrenching scream. Sandy bolted up and looked confused for a moment until his eyes rested on the trembling form of Jack. Bunny literally jumped up holding his boomerangs until the screaming registered and he looked around. The others were similarly disoriented and for a minute could not seem to process a thing.

"Jack! "Screamed Tooth finally comprehending the screaming boy, she ran to his side. The others joined her and North knelt and tried to wake the screaming spirit, but to no avail. Jack thrashed around in his sleep, and kicked as if he was being attacked.

"Wonder 'what he's dreaming about," asked Bunny curiously.

"Bunny this is serious!, "Tooth screeched.

"I can't wake him...…Sandy? "Said North

Sandy approached the sleeping form and summoned up some dream sand to try to wake Jack. He gently manipulated the golden dust to flow to Jack. But, as soon as it touched Jack it immediately turned black and disappeared.

"Well that didn't work "said Bunny

"Ohh Jack, come on wake up…please…please wake up and be okay." whispered Tooth quietly.

But it was not okay, upon looking closer at the young spirit, North realized what terrible shape Jack was in. Dried blood was soaked into his blue hoodie which was now in tatters, and more blood matted his hair. The crimson contrasted greatly with Jack's paler than normal skin. Bruises and cuts covered all available space on his entire body. And when Jack turned over in his nightmare filled sleep, North, sucked in a loud breath, on his face were long lines of red. Claw marks thought North angrily. A large deep gash stood out on his forehead. His staff was nowhere to be seen. But of course not even Pitch was stupid enough to leave it with the winter spirit, thought North as he imagined many horrible deaths to Pitch.

"Why that little *beeeeeep*, murmured Bunny to himself.

"Jack I'm sorry I'm so, so sorry. Please wake up please…please wake up. "Cried Tooth who was kneeling beside Jack's now silent form.

Suddenly Bunny gasped, more marks began appearing on Jack's chest and back; Whip marks.

"What in the world? "Started North but he was cut off by Jacks scream again. Only this time it was a scream of pain. Then more marks appeared along beside the whip marks; long deep cuts this time. Sandy's eyes widened.

"What is it Sandy? "Asked North in an anxious tone.

Sandy began forming images of letters spelling out special nightmare. The images continued and North realized how serious this nightmare was. Then a CRACK! Rang out through the room. All the Guardians cringed and looked away from what they knew were the sounds of bones being shattered, and Tooth fell back in a dead faint. Suddenly Jack screamed out a sound of utter agony and despair. Except this time Jack was clutching at his stomach and no new visible wounds appeared. New blood was already re-soaking his tattered hoodie and pooled out on the floor.

"No, no whispered Jack. "I didn't." Icy tears were steaming down the sleeping child's face. 'No, No NOOO! Jack yelled as he awoke.

"I didn't, NOOOoooo…..Jack yelled, he opened his eyes, …the first thing he noticed was the immense pain he felt all over his body, he looked up to find all the Guardians staring down at him with concern and worry written on their faces.

"Jack! Thank goodness! You're finally…"Tooth was cut off by Jack whimpering and scrambling to the other side of the cell.

"NO, NO I DIDN'T…"whispered Jack, ice began to grow around his feet and frost laced up his arms freezing everything around it.

"Bunny; grab him!"Yelled North. Bunny lunged at Jack, but Jack held up a hand and Bunny was suddenly frozen to the floor.

The others stared at Jack as he slid to the floor biting his lips against the pain of his wounds. North warily approached the child; not wanting to frighten the boy more. As he inched nearer, Jack began shaking terribly. His eyes were squeezed shut as if trying to seem invisible. North waited for the child to calm down, and placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. At this Jack flinched and began to pull himself tighter and tighter into a ball… It took a while but, slowly and surely Jack began to relax under North's heavy hand. He stopped shaking and looked warily through his bangs at North.

North felt his heart nearly break in anguish when he saw the boys eyes, they were so full of pain, suffering, and fear; it made North shake with rage at the thought of Pitch doing this to an innocent child. Tooth and Sandy finished freeing Bunny who was now rubbing feet. Tooth whispered soothingly to Jack as she fluttered towards him,

"It's okay Jack I won't hurt you."

Jack looked at North and when he nodded, Jack nodded ever so slightly as Tooth brought him into a hug. Sandy approached floating low so Jack would see him; he wanted to strangle Pitch when he saw the up-close wounds of Jack. Instead he created a small dolphin and sent it towards Jack. Jack gave a small smile but it turned to fear when he saw what was behind the Guardians.

"Ahh... I see he's awake. " said Pitch menacingly as he walked in.

"What did you do to him," screeched Tooth as she clawed at Pitch through the bars.

Sandy formed angry images above his head, he tried to get Pitch with sand but there was an invisible barrier preventing him. North slowly stood up and stepped protectively in front of Jack.

"Ahh yes hello North..….. I came in to see if Jack has changed his mind yet about joining me….and (**to Jack**) I trust you enjoyed my nightmare.

Jack visibly paled once more. Bunny glared and started to say something but was cut off.

"No… nothing …..well we'll just have to work even harder now wont we "said Pitch mostly to himself.

Jack scooted farther away from Pitch and the Guardians. And now Bunny was shaking with rage as he stared at Pitch. He wanted to tear Pitch limb from limb, and he would if he were not in a cell.

"Fearlings restrain them," ordered Pitch in bored voice and he waved his hand.

Immediately about 20 fearlings materialized around them. They quickly restrained North since he no longer had his swords. Tooth would have lasted a while, but in an enclosed space here wings just slowed her down. Bunnymund didn't go down with kicking a few to oblivion. Sandy lasted the longest. But his sand is very weak when it's surrounded by so much fear.

Jack was indifferent to what was going on around him, he was only aware of immense pain and…..and …...fear… of Pitch, at once he was roughly grabbed, forced to his knees and his hands held at an irregular angle behind his back by a fearling.

Once they were all secured Pitch materialized inside the cell right next to Jack, he knelt to Jack's level and whispered something into his ear, it was so low, even Bunny couldn't hear it.(**even if he won't admit it**) But whatever it was, Jacks vigorous head shake answer of no was definitely the wrong answer. Because when Pitch saw it he lashed out so quickly the Guardians eyes couldn't follow it: Pitch's kick hit Jack squarely in his already broken ribs. Jack cried out and fell to the ground, he writhed in pain on the floor as the Guardians struggled to aid him.

He finally fell unconscious at the immense flaring pain of a second well placed kick to his ribs and a sprinkling of nightmare sand: another loud crack reverberated throughout the room followed by North's angry bellows, and Bunny's curses.


	6. Chapter 6

Jack awoke hanging from a wall for the second time in a week, he sensed Pitch was looking at him, but he refused to acknowledge him even when Pitch spoke up,

"I must apologize Jack…I've always been told you can lose everything you have or own but you should never lose your temper, "said Pitch with a sigh. "It's just you have been especially hard to break by my normal means…..Now have you decided to give me what I want?" No answer.

He summoned some black sand and fashioned it into long black ropes. Jack squeezed his eyes shut and looked away; he was not going to give Pitch the pleasure; North's yell rang out through the silence when he and the others realized what Pitch was planning,

"PITCH STOP THIS, HES ONLY A BOY!"

"DON'T YOU DARE PITCH" shouted Bunny while trying escape so he could save his friend.

There was no answer except the sharp hiss as Pitch brought the whip down and Jack screamed. "So much for no satisfaction." Jack thought grimly, trying to distract himself from the pain … It didn't work. Tooth looked away in tears and covered her ears: she couldn't watch as Jack suffered. But, this didn't help, Jacks tortured screams still rang through the lair. Pitch laughed maniacally at the gut wrenching screams coming from the child. Bunny, North, and Sandy watched helplessly as their friend was put through this. Pitch brought down the whip, again and again until he realized no more screams were coming from the boy he had beaten, he tried again and all it brought was a shiver, just a slight tremor along with a small whimper that was inaudible over the crack of the whip. He lowered the whips and they materialized to nothing.

He strode up to the motionless spirit and looked at him closely, when he was not acknowledged he grabbed the boy's matted hair and held his barely conscious face up to his own.

"Changed your mind yet?"

No response. Pitch struck again, this time slapping the child cleanly across his face leaving one more bruise to add to his collection, also effectively snapping him out of his daze.

"I asked you a question JACK, he said with emphasis. "And you will look me in the eyes when you answer me."

He slowly opened his hauntingly blue, cerulean eyes, eyes that were filled with unshed tears of pain and glared at him. Pitch was a little more surprise than he'd like to admit when he gazed into the so close to broken boys' eyes. His entire face was wrought with pain and so were his eyes, yet there was still the ever-present bit of defiance and trust, in there also.

"HHHMMM I'll admit you have me puzzled, "said Pitch in a half annoyed half curios tone.

He thought for a moment. …..If looks could kill then Pitch would be so dead you wouldn't even recognize him. Sandy and North were glaring daggers at Pitch for what he had done to Jack. But even they couldn't help but feel a bit of pride for how strong Jack was being. Pitch seemed to realize this and turned to face them. He looked slightly amused when he saw "Bunnymund the brave" trying to gnaw his way through the cuffs using his big bunny teeth. Tooth was trying so hard to twist out of her cuffs that little colorful feathers were floating down after they had been rubbed off. Suddenly an idea came to him, an evil sadistic grin broke out on his face, and the dark twinkle in his eyes was enough to make North visibly shiver.

With a knowing glance towards the bloodied figure on the ground, Pitch walked out.

* * *

As soon as the Guardians were sure he was out of ear shot they began yelling at Jack.

"**JACK!** Are you okay?!"Shouted Tooth yelling the question they knew he couldn't answer

"Come on buddy, stay strong!" yelled Bunny.

"Let him rest" North said to the others.

But Sandy was having none of it; he signaled to North that they had to get Jack's attention. North started yelling again until Jack looked up. Sandy got his attention and began forming images above his head. Jack nodded and did as he was told; that was his last bit of energy, let his head go down once more.

The other Guardians stared at Jack not knowing what just happened, the boy who was once so full of mischief and good fun was now broken and bleeding; icy tears of pain stained his pale face. But what killed them most that he was suffering and they couldn't help him.


	7. Chapter 7

Pitch walked in being followed by two fearlings. Strangely though Pitch was slightly hunched over as if he was tired. His fearlings carried something like a collar, except this collar was so black it made Pitch's normal black sand look grey. He walked over to Jack and snapped his fingers and immediately the fearling holding the collar started forward and handed the collar to Pitch, exiting with a bow to the nightmare king. Pitch slipped the collar over the barely conscious spirits silver head, he stirred but didn't have the strength to look up. Pitch got up and turned to the Guardians who were still glaring daggers at him (sharper ones).

This stony exchange continued until Sandy (almost) gasped out loud. He had just realized what Pitch had put on Jack, a weakness collar. One could only be made by Pitch himself and could only be used on one person as it was designed specifically for them; it cost a great deal of energy to make so Pitch rarely used that tactic. Pitch followed Sandy's gaze to the black collar on the child's bloody neck. North realized what it was to, and yelled out,

"PITCH! DON'T DO THIS!"

Pitch didn't answer. The whole time Tooth and Bunny had no idea what the huge problem with the collar was. Shore it couldn't be something good but….. He looked at the hanging Jack and whispered to himself; "don't worry mate we'll get ya out a here."

"You know…if you hadn't yelled at him he would have never been alone for me to capture."

When the Guardians heard this they knew it was at least partly true, they gazed at the wounded spirit they had come to think of as family and felt their guilt increase tenfold. Pitch turned to Jack with a sadistic grin on his grey face.

"No you don't have to do this! "Bellowed North in a pleading voice.

"Ohh I think I do "said Pitch darkly as he summoned the tiniest bit of black sand and sent it spiraling towards the collar.

* * *

The black swirling tendril flew gracefully towards the collar. It formed itself into a sandy ring larger than the collar and began to spin. It spun and spun, getting smaller and smaller until finally it became small enough to fit perfectly on the black collar it was aiming for.

The entire world seemed to pause and hold its breath. North struggled trying to free himself. Bunny and Tooth just stared, trying to comprehend what just happened and what that thing on Jack was. Then, the most pain filled scream anyone has ever heard pierced the air, a scream that was so agony filled it was as if his soul itself was being ripped apart piece by piece.…Jack's entire body arched and he began sobbing at whatever the collar was doing to him. THE COLLAR IS ON

* * *

Seeing Jack in this pain caused something inside Sandy to finally snap. His usually sunny disposition was thrown out the window and all that was left was blistering fury. While Pitch was distracted by Jack's tortured screams. Sandy used the recently frozen cuffs and all the power he could muster at one time and used it to free himself then he summoned a massive amount of sand to blind Pitch. He quickly undid North's cuffs. Sandy then flew over to Pitch and they engaged in an epic battle. North retrieved his swords and freed Bunny and Tooth; Bunnymund got out his boomerangs and North his swords Tooth retrieved her needle thin sword and knife. They looked at each other and nodded, with that they charged at Pitch.

Black and golden sand flew around the battle. Bunny was constantly flinging boomerangs or egg grenades at Pitch and the fearlings. Sandy had his whips out and was furiously lashing out at Pitch. North did manage to get a few scratches on Pitch. Bunny even hit him with an egg grenade. This luck didn't last long; it wasn't really a fair fight since all the Guardians were worn out emotionally and physically. North heard an even louder scream than before. He looked around trying to find the source when a fearling hit him into a wall and effectively knocked him out. Bunny went to see if North was okay but as soon as he turned his back Pitch hit him across the head with a stick. Bunny dropped like a sack of bricks.

Tooth was fine until some of Pitch's sand encased her wings and she fell to the ground with a thud. Sandy was unaware, through all the sand, he could not see his fallen team mates. But even he was beginning to tire. He let his guard down for a moment to search for the others and exposed his left side. Pitch took this opportunity to attack. He kicked Sandman's legs out from under him and kicked him on the head, effectively leaving him in a daze.

"It was a good try…. and I was so looking forward to you guys seeing me kill Jackie…... but now...… it's over, "Pitch said menacingly as he raised his bow and arrow. Pitch notched his black bow and aimed it at Bunny; he let the arrow fly, to strike down the last Pooka in existence.


	8. Chapter 8

For Bunny it all happened in slow motion. His eyes widened as he realized the arrow was aimed at him, he watched as the arrow came sailing his way and knew there was nothing anyone could do to stop it. Bunny closed his eyes and waited for the blow to come...he had no idea how long he sat until his head hit the hard ground.

* * *

Tooth watched helplessly as Pitch let his arrow fly at Bunny.

"NO" she cried out in anguish.

Pitch paid her no heed. She watched in horror as the arrow flew, to strike down the Easter Bunny. Then she noticed the immense pain in her wings and fell unconscious from the injury and the emotional anguish.

* * *

North however could not face Pitch, not after what he had done; instead he looked at the young spirit whom he had failed so miserably. Jack still lay on the ground clutching at is sides and screaming as though something inside him was trying to burn its way through. … Then North heard a shriek, he looked towards Tooth and saw the arrow sailing towards Bunny.

"NO "shouted North.

That was the last of his energy, he fell back in shock and in pain as the hit to the head finally took its toll on him.

* * *

Sandy's eyes watered as he realized this must be the end, Pitch had won and now he was going to strike them all down. Tears formed in his eyes for the second time in his life. He saw Pitch aiming at Bunnymund, and releasing the arrow aimed towards Bunny's fuzzy chest...Sandy's eyes widened as he fell back into a much-needed sleep. Tears still running down his face.

* * *

**Sorry this is short but this seemed like a good spot to stop**

**the next update is coming real soon though...**


	9. Chapter 9

Bunny was the first to wake. He sat up wearily, and looked around to find everything covered in ice,

"Not the heaven I imagined but... " he said scratching his ears.

It would have been pretty if not for the large icicles that impaled themselves in the walls and the broken wreckage of some of the insides of Pitch's house strewn about. He looked about all this icy destruction when his gaze fell upon the only un-iced spot in the room, he got up and hopped closer, afraid at what he would find, upon closer look he realized that someone was laying in the middle…Frostbite he thought. Bunny began hopping quickly towards Jack and knelt next to him. He checked for a pulse and felt a barely present thump in the boy's wrist, signaling a dangerously low heartbeat. At first he was relieved until he saw close up how bad of shape this boy was in.

"Come on Snowflake, get up, wake up, Jack…Jack"

He looked closer at the spirit and noticed something else was off. Jacks ever frostbitten hoodie was no longer cold. In fact it was almost as if it had melted because when Bunny felt it, it was damp, with water he hoped. Come to think of it Jack is almost emitting heat… this is definitely not good.

* * *

North woke up and looked around. Everything was covered in a thick layer of snow. It was beautiful except for the fact that pieces of Pitch's house laid all around... But there was something else to…., something was wrong. He looked around again and behind him he saw a grey fuzzy figure kneeling on the ground. He stood up and shivered from the cold. He walked towards Bunny but stopped when he realized he was getting warmer as he approached Bunny. Getting worried he started to run when he got there he could only stare as his heart broke to pieces.

"Jack." whispered North in terror and confusion.

The young child whom he thought of as a son, the baby of the Guardian family, that cheerful playful boy was lying in a pool of blood and water. He was as pale as death, and yet sweating like crazy. He breathed in short ragged breaths as if it hurt to breathe. The old whip and sword marks had been re-opened and new ones were there to. His ever frozen hoodie was thawed out, and it looked as if Jack himself were melting.

Tooth woke up and the first thing she noticed was the -4 degree cold. Luckily for her she had feathers. Then she noticed Pitch (who was unconscious) on the floor covered in rubble a few feet from her. She shrieked and fluttered off a ways. North heard this and looked up sharply half expecting another battle. When he saw Tooth his eyes flashed with relief but quickly he turned with his back to her. She fluttered over, faster now since her wings for some reason were thawing out. She got to North and Bunny and she felt her heart stop beating, she saw Jack, her little boy. He was bleeding even more than before; she reached out to comfort the sleeping child but pulled back in shock when his normally freezing skin was burning up. She began sobbing loudly and kept whispering to Jack.

"It's okay. It's gonna be okay." she repeated over and over. As if she said it enough it would be true.

* * *

Sandy awoke to have North leaning over him trying to wake him up. As soon as he looked at North's worry lined face he immediately knew something was terribly wrong. He was right. Because as North helped him up he saw Jack shaking and shivering on the ground surrounded by blood. He formed an explanation point over his head but it went unnoticed. Bunny and Tooth were trying to wake him, but in vain. He floated to the young spirit and felt his heart-break into a million pieces. Who could do this to an innocent child he thought bitterly.

North called his sleigh with a high-pitched whistle, and waited for it to arrive. They didn't notice Jack waking up until they heard a soft whimper of pain. They looked at Jack who was being held in a half sitting, half laying position by Bunny. Bunny saw Jack gently stir, and called out softly

"Jack, come on mate, can you open your eyes for us"

North was a bit put off at how concerned and worried Bunny sounded; it was a new thing for the normally stoically indifferent Pooka. They waited a moment before they saw Jack slowly open his eyes. But as soon as they looked at his eyes they regretted it, Jack's normally icy blue eyes were filled with pain, instead of blue they were a dull grey. Tooth and Sandy went into panic mode and started looking around for anything to help.

Jack looked around but everything was a blurry blob. Then he realized how much his side was hurting, due to the broken ribs and the position he was in. He let out a moan. Then Bunny finally came into focus.

"O hey….. Kangaroo long time… no see" Jack's voice shook from the pain and he talked so softly they could barely hear him.

"Could someone turn off the heat I feel like I'm m-melting." He chuckled at his joke but winced when even that small movement caused pain to shoot up his side.

He silenced as blackness threatened to take over once more. Bunny gently shook Jack trying to keep him awake, Jack howled in pain and Bunny apologized, but still held him up, since if he laid him down he would be lying on the whip marks…

"Alright Jack m' boy you got to' stay with us now…" said North firmly in a thick Russian accent. No one noticed at the time, but North's accent gets thicker when he's really worried.

"Freezerburn! Don't fall asleep on us okay! And don't worry we got ya'; OI! No…..stay awake okay Snowflake... Jack, …JACK" Bunny finally gave into panic when he felt Jack stop shivering all together and go limp in his arms.

"NORTH WHERES THAT STUPID SLEIGH OF YOURS…OI…..Jack….No don't you dare let go…..you…you….you can't leave" Bunny was pleading in a quivering voice now as he saw Jack's breathing grow more shallow and labored.

"Not here yet, we'll have to start tending to Jack now." Just then a flying red sleigh crashed through the roof of Pitch's lair,

"SCRATCH THAT IZ JUST ARRIVED; NOW JUMP ON" North shouted.


	10. Chapter 10

"SCRATCH THAT IZ JUST ARRIVED; NOW JUMP ON" North shouted.

* * *

Bunny gently picked up Jack and was momentarily surprised by how light he was. He hopped in the sleigh just as Sandy floated down next to him.

"Tooth grab Jack's staff!" yelled North without looking back.

The sleigh took off at breathtakingly fast speed and everyone but North (who was driving) was looking at the unconscious child that had his head on Bunny's knee. Bunny was keeping constant pressure on a particularly deep cut on Jack's shoulder, though no matter what how much pressure he applied the blood just continued to seep through his paws.

Jack was semiconscious when they arrived at North's workshop, and Tooth was murmuring to Jack and Sandy was forming images above his head trying to occupy Jack and keep him awake.

"You gotta stay awake now, alright? It will be alright…m'kay?" whispered Tooth soothingly, totally unaware as North's castle came into view.

As soon as the sleigh touched the snow North jumped into the backseat, and ripped Jack from Bunny's startled grasp; that motion caused Jack to cry out in agony and lose himself to unconsciousness once more. North cringed when he realized he had caused that last pain flare but shook off the feeling knowing that Jack needed help now, since there was no infirmary he made his way to Jack's room. Bunny followed quickly behind, expecting to be slowed down by snow, he was surprised to find that wherever North went the snow melted. Not good, thought Bunny as he, Tooth, and Sandy followed North.

* * *

Jack was laid on his snow-covered bed, even though as soon as he was laid down the snow began to melt... On the way North had ordered some confused yetis to grab all the first aid supplies they could carry and bring them to Jack's room. The guardians promptly began working on his wounds as soon as the yetis returned.

They removed what was left of his hoodie and nearly had a panic attack at what they saw. Jack's entire front side was a crisscrossing maze of whip and sword marks…it looked half this bad with his hoodie on they thought. North quickly began cleaning the cuts and gashes and Tooth bandaged them. They finished with the cuts on the front and moved on to broken bones. Bunny began pressing on Jack's pale limbs feeling around for broken bones. He found much to his chagrin that he had one ankle that was completely shattered and just as he began to think there were no more, he heard a faint whimper when he pushed on Jacks ribs. He let out a scowl as he counted them all.

"Crikey Frostbite!" breathed Bunny and despite the danger of Jack falling asleep, he was silently glad Jack wasn't suffering through the pain as they worked. North couldn't help but wonder just how much pain Jack could take before he finally slept.

They turned him over as gently as possible and began working on his back; it was just as bad as the front if not worse. They continued working, Sandy tightly wrapped Jack's side and his shoulder while Bunny wrapped his ankle. Finally they finished and stepped back to see if they missed anything. They looked him over and saw nothing was missed. A few bandages were on his arms, legs, and ankle but only were the really bad cuts were the rest were open, his shoulder and side were wrapped also. His face was no longer flecked in blood, but now you could see the large bruise on his pale face and the claw marks on his cheek.

Jack had lost too much blood, from all the wounds, this they thought was why he was so pale and sweaty. Sandy looked at Jack and realized that he was not sweaty and pale from blood loss, rather an extremely high fever. Sandy's eyes widened and he frantically attempted to tell North, luckily North came to the same conclusion also.

"Bunny quick get some snow!" "Tooth get some ice, GO, GO, Go" "Sandy make sure he's having good dreams tonight!"

Bunny and Tooth came rushing back holding bags of ice and snow.

"Quick put them on Jack. Sandy sprinkled dream sand over Jack's head and Tooth and Bunny put the ice packs on Jack…..with that they waited for the fever to go down.

* * *

Knowing sitting there worrying wouldn't help Jack any; North took the Guardians to his office. They all sat down dejectedly and waited in silence for someone to say something. In the end it was Bunnymund, who stood up and spoke one of the things they were all wondering,

"How on earth did Pitch to end up unconscious under all that debris!?" After Jack was taken care of, he finally let his fury at Pitch break through, even if it was directed at the others.

The others slumped into their seats, slightly relieved that someone voiced their question, without them having to.

"Yes well, I've wondered that to" said North thoughtfully.

He looked up to see Sandy with a snow globe image above his blond sandy head. "Of course, thank you Sandy" said North. He stood up and got the snow globe from the shelf. He brought it back to his desk and said "Pitch's defeat".

* * *

They saw the familiar sparkle and the graceful swirls of the water and sat back to watch.

_This is it, thought Pitch evilly when he shot the arrow at Bunny. He decided that Bunny was the one closest to recovery from the blows he had received. Then in a small explosion of sand and ice the arrow that was inches from killing the Pooka was destroyed. He growled in anger and turned around to see furious Jack looking at him with glowing eyes. His own eyes widened in surprise as he saw from the corner of his eyes a broken collar. He glanced back at Jack who had frost forming at his sides; Jack directed some frost and snow at Pitch and buried him in it. Then he formed two ice swords that were literally attached to his hands._

_Pitch managed to unbury himself and stood up angrily. Jack was now glowing brightly all over and had an aura of power surrounding him that almost scared the Nightmare King himself. He let out a yell and summoned about 15 fearlings. Jack reacted immediately and flung 10 ice daggers in a matter of 4 seconds which destroyed one monster for each knife, He then side-stepped the first fearling to reach him and stabbed it in the side, causing it to explode into dust. The others he destroyed in much the same way. _

_Pitch snarled in anger and summoned more fearlings, he then attacked Jack. He formed a sword and a whip out of black sand as he ran. He raised his whip and struck out at Jack. To this Jack just dodged and caught it under his foot, causing it to turn to ice and shatter. Pitch then attacked Jack with his sword. They both engaged into what was going to be a long brutal battle. Pitch made a thrust at Jacks stomach but he blocked it with one frost sword and then he destroyed an oncoming fearling with the other. Pitch kicked Jack on his ankle causing Jack to stumble to the ground; on his way down he also struck out and kicked Pitch's legs out from under him. They both jumped back up and circled each other. They seemed to be assessing each other's weaknesses; suddenly Jack's eyes widened slightly and he aimed a blast of ice and knocked Pitch back. Pitch replied by flinging a knife out; which Jack barely had a chance to dodge._

_Pitch, while Jack was occupied with some fearlings he attacked him with his sword again. He made a jab at Jack's neck but he just stepped back to avoid it, then Jack slashed at Pitch leaving a deep cut on the Nightmare King's shoulder. Pitch let out a howl of pain and summoned more fearlings. They all advanced on Jack who stood his ground. Then the still glowing figure ran forward and became a nightmare for the fearlings themselves. Jump, dodge, stab, and repeat, jump, dodge, stab, and repeat; until all that was left of the fearlings was small piles of dark sand. Pitch stepped back in shock, but he quickly composed himself and summoned a massive amount of sand and directed it at Jack. _

_An enormous black wave was now hurtling itself towards Jack…. Jack however just took a half step back and braced himself. He brought his hands together and his own blue winds, the Guardians could actually see cut the wave in half; causing it to go around Jack. He moved his hands in a sort of warding away evil gesture and balls of pure winter magic and power began to glow from his hands. He blasted the energy like a laser beam at Pitch and blasted him through multiple columns and causing him to hit the wall and land under a pile of debris. From their point of view you could see a half buried Pitch who had fallen asleep. Then the image sparkled and went back to Jack. _

_The young spirits eyes were slowly reverting back to the normal icy blue and had stopped glowing. The frosty swirls that were covering his body slowly faded until Jack was left standing there in a daze. His eyes rolled back into his head and his legs crumpled, he fell to the ground in a heap. All his wounds were visible once more, but now as he lay in the snow, it began to melt quickly turning to water and spreading out._


	11. Chapter 11

The image faded and cut off abruptly and left the guardians in a shock.

"That was…." started Tooth.

"How did little Snowflake do…THAT" said a wide-eyed Bunny gesturing to the now empty globe. Then he proceeded to grumble silently about Jack's aim being better than his.

"And how come he never told us he could do that" yelled North, with a slight hint of jealousy in his voice. That was amazing sword fighting, how can he do that and I can't, thought North unbelievably. Pretty soon all the Guardians started talking at once, each trying to be louder than the other.

Only Sandy seemed to notice what happened at the end of the image. He tried to think of reasons of why Jacks neck was burned. As soon as his conscious asked himself this question, he remembered everything he saw, the smoke, the burn marks, the collar and the fever. It wasn't much, but in all the commotion he didn't put two and two together until now. He quickly realized that while they've argued, Jack's condition was probably getting worse. He immediately flew out of the room to try to help Jack. This snapped the Guardians back into the real world, …..worried they followed Sandy.

When the other Guardians arrived what they saw scared them to their very bones. Sandy was hovering over Jack, who was sweating even more than before, and if even possible, he was paler than before. He had begun shivering again as if he was cold. Upon looking at Sandy's expression they knew this was very bad. Sandy looked up and began forming pictures of what was happening to their youngest member. Although… only North got it, and when he saw the others with confused looks on their faces he explained quickly,

" It's the collar, the sand Pitch put in it was extremely powerful and has soaked into Jack's skin, and whatever weakness that collar exploited is now in Jack's bloodstream, effectively… poisoning him."

Tooth let out a gasp…. "Now what" asked Tooth un-surely as she pushed Jack's silver hair out of his eyes.

"A battle" said North simply, but at the others scared expressions he elaborated. "We must help Jack in his internal battle….but as soon as we give him what help we can, it's just a question of willpower."

* * *

"If we want to help him doesn't that mean we need to know what the dream was"…. Asked Bunny.

"Unfortunately yes…only how to figure that out is a mystery since the globe can only show physical events not dreams…...Sandy" said North as he looked expectantly at the little man.

He floated down to Jacks level and placed two golden fingers on the boy's forehead. The Guardians watched as Sandy probed Jack's most recent dreams, Sandy's eyes squeezed shut and a pained expression slowly took over his features. They stood there watching until Sandy let out a small (inaudible) gasp and pulled his fingers away in shock. He looked frantically between Jack and the Guardians and shrugged. The others not knowing what Sandy had witnessed looked at him impatiently.

The Sandman silently floated over to North first. He knew what he had to do…, he placed is fingers on North's forehead and slowly pulled memories of joy and happiness from North's memory. He then moved to Tooth whom he took memories of love, trust, and family. Bunny's however was more difficult; he finally decided to take memories of good times with Jack, and memories of bravery and protection. He fashioned all the memories into sand and sent them spiraling toward the sleeping spirit. They let out a breath they had no idea they had held and sat down to watch over Jack.

* * *

**DREAMLAND**

_Jack was in a fight to the death with an unknown enemy seemingly made of fire, and he was losing…..badly. He was on the ground writhing in pain at the burns that covered his body, the creature taunted him. _

_"You're worthless, weak, and pathetic" "You never deserved to be a Guardian, they only kept you around for your power" _

_"No, no not true, its, its,…. it's true….. I can't do this I'm….I'm worthless…." even the Guardians said so he, thought to himself. _

_The creature was preparing to make the last blow. When Jack felt memories flood his brain, memories of Bunny and Jack playing around, Bunny taking a stand against Pitch when Jack was hurt, Tooth comforting him when he was sad, North being as happy as could be when he and Jack laughed at the elves antics, and lastly Sandy giving Jack the best dreams he could create. He let out his classic smirk as creature brought down his sword which was inches from Jack; he reached up and froze it, shattering it to pieces._

_"How its, it's not possible" creature murmured in disbelief. _

_The winter spirit was glowing all over and his hands were glowing balls of what looked like pure winter energy. What got creature the most was that Jack said absolutely nothing as he created a frost spear. He looked up through his silver bangs with a mischievous glint in his eyes. Creature saw this and began to back away quickly, but he never had a chance, the spear was thrown and hit him in the chest. As soon as that pure icy frost made contact with the flame he disintegrated into a pile of black sand and blew away in the wind, screaming _

_"Next time…FFRROOOOOOOOOOOOSSTTTTTT"_

* * *

Jack gasped as he opened up his eyes and looked at the wooden ceiling of North's workshop. He tried to sit up, but had to stifle a scream when a sharp pain ran through his side.

"YOUR AWAKE "screeched Tooth as she fluttered over to hug Jack.

Jack flinched and looked at Tooth. The entire Guardians saw the flash of fear cross the child's dull blue eyes. Tooth faltered and watched as Jack eyes began to close and him falling back on his back in exhaustion. She reached out a feathered hand and caught his head as he fell to the pillow, she gently laid him back down and pushed some hair out of his eyes. They looked down at him as he slept, a grimace of pain formed on his face and North signaled to Sandy to give Jack some dream sand. At last Jack's pained expression softened to a peaceful look.

After a while Bunny asked impatiently, "Are you going to show us what the dream was or just make us wonder"

Only Sandy seemed to hear the relieved tone in Bunny's voice, relief that Jack was okay now, he silently sighed and put the Guardians to sleep, and using his dream sand he sent them the memory of Jacks nightmare.


	12. Chapter 12

Sandy looked at the Guardians who were tossing and turning during the memory and used his sand to bring them all back to North's office. He took one last look at the unmoving figure on the bed and seemed satisfied that Jack won the internal battle, the battle that earlier….. had been killing him. He didn't let the others know this because there was already enough stress going around.

Back in the office all the formerly sleeping Guardians awoke with a start. They looked around wildly until they saw Sandy grimly looking back at them. Tooth busted out crying, Bunny looked sickened, North looked shocked as they all thought about what they saw. Bunny when he'd recovered slightly whispered,

"I can't believe it mates, that that's his worst nightmare….you know what…..I'm sorry I asked"

"It makes sense" said North guiltily…. "We left him alone for years, and now he finally has a family, it makes sense that he wouldn't want to lose them." "Although…never...did I think…that would have been his worst fear."….

"Yeah I know mate, if anything I would be worried about not getting believers" Sandy nodded in agreement as he calmed down Tooth. She let one more tear out before she started hiccupping.

They stayed at North's place that night, but each went their separate ways later on, but only because North promised he would call them when Jack woke. Sandy had been sending Jack good dreams about him and the Guardians in hopes of blotting out the nightmare.

* * *

**Sorry it took so long...**

**but the next chapter is coming up soon.**


	13. Chapter 13

It had been a week since Jack's fever first went away and his room was covered in a thick layer of frost; a good sign that he was healing. The minor wounds Jack had received were healed although the broken bones and bad wounds were still healing. He awoke a week later and looked around the room. He sat up and winced, squinting his eyes shut; he gripped his side while the pain passed.

Slowly he made his way out of bed, and through North's workshop. The elves and yetis glanced at him as he passed and Phil even gave him a pat on the back. He yelped and flinched when someone grabbed him from behind in a big bear hug.

"Uhhh…..broken ribs …re-breaking…need…to breathe North "Jack choked out when he realized he was not being attacked.

"Sorry Jack… it's just great to see you finally awake" said North contentedly

"Ahh…...So um…... North…. how exactly did we escape" asked Jack in wonder.

"Well you defeated Pitch of course "said North with one eye brow raised as if it were obvious.

"I…I…Did?" stuttered Jack as North cocked his head and gave him a confused look.

"You don't remember" asked North hesitantly

"No…should I…."said Jack slowly.

"Well then I guess well explain that later then, after we visit with the others….. they've been worrying out of their minds," stated North.

"Ohh…..okay then" said Jack quietly as he followed North to his office.

* * *

The other Guardians rushed to North's as soon as they heard Jack was awake. They walked in to his office and saw Jack with his hood up sitting on the open window sill, talking with North.

"No…the last thing I remember is passing out when Pitch left and then some sort of burning pain all over" said Jack as he looked up at North from under his hood.

North cringed when he saw the memory of the immense pain flash in his blue eyes. That's going to scar him for life thought North sadly.

"Um hello" said Tooth uncertainly quiet as she entered the room.

Jack tensed up when he realized who it was. An awkward silence ensued until Bunny spoke up, as he wanted to get this over with, besides they had decided earlier that he was the one who was going to apologize for them…. after all…..it would mean the most coming from Bunny.

"Listen mate, we're Uhhh…..we're real sorry for what happened with the storm…..we uhhh….. saw what happened…and…and…...we didn't know. "Finished Bunny guiltily.

Jack's eyes again flashed again with pain and uncertainty, they all saw it and slouched just a little. They would have liked it if Jack had totally forgiven them and trusted them again but**….(hey take what you can get right.)**

"You didn't let me explain myself" whispered Jack

After that quiet statement no one had anything to say, only guilt and blame at themselves. They  
hadn't let him explain anything, they just assumed it was all Jack's fault and took their anger out on him, and, and now look what happened.

"We know Jack, we know we didn't" cried Tooth as she fluttered over to give Jack a hug.

Sandy formed the words were sorry over his head with a sad expression on his face. Jack nodded in acknowledgment of the apology but said nothing; he didn't…..he couldn't trust them anymore. Tooth and Sandy went to hug him while North came over next and patted Jacks head softly. He sensed the mood in the room go very low and didn't like it, it was far too depressing. Jack looked up through his milky bangs at Bunny, who was standing a ways off awkwardly '**perfect'** he thought then said,

"Sorry about freezing you to the ground kangaroo" said Jack with a smirk slowly overcoming his features. Bunny was about to let out an angry retort but cut himself short when he remembered why he was here, he glanced up at Jack and saw that o so annoying smirk and couldn't hold back,

"You're darn right you should be you done almost gave me frostbite, Frostbite" he covered his mouth with his furry paw when he realized his retort slipped out. The Guardians gasped and Sandy bit his lip, Jack chuckled lightly and said,

"I'll do it again, if you don't watch out, only this time it's going up to your knees." Jack replied evilly as a grin crept across his face.

* * *

Bunny grinned also and said

"Good to have ya'back mate"

After that everyone started talking again. They knew it was a just a clever conversation changer but didn't mind, they didn't like were the conversation had been going either.

Bunnymund even said thank you to Jack for saving his life. Except at this at Jack looked up with a confused look on his face. They saw this and realized that Jack remembered nothing of his fight with Pitch. They all took their seats near the fireplace, and began talking about what happened after Pitch put the collar on Jack. The entire time Jack looked at them doubtfully, not even noticing the warmth coming from the fire. After the story Jack asked,

"Huh…did anyone else know I could do that...….cause I didn't?" Jack asked with a slightly pleased tone.

"Wait that's never happened to you before?" Bunny asked shocked

"Well actually it has only happened once before that I know of" replied Jack.

"And…..when was that" asked North curiously.

"oh it was after Pitch broke my -" he cut himself off as panic gripped his features. "My staff, where's my staff" he asked on the verge of having a panic attack.

"Whoa, whoa, it's okay we'll get you a new one, just calm down" said Bunny nervously

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN NEW ONE…..JUST GIVE ME MY OLD—"yelled Jack who was standing up now and starting to shake, suddenly he whipped his head around to stare at North.

North unconsciously backed up, after seeing Jack's fight with Pitch he had to admit (**never out loud of course**) that he was a little scared of the winter sprite. And with the suddenly freezing air and small snowflakes beginning to fall it just made him look more menacing. The wind howled outside the window threatning to brake in. Bunny stood frozen when Jack looked at him, like an animal caught in the headlights, frozen under the elemental's intense glare.

"YOU DIDN'T LEAVE IT WITH PITCH DID YOU?" he whisper-yelled in a voice so threatening Sandy was pretty sure Bunny paled a bit under all his grey/ black hair.

"No, no of course not we didn't we just couldn't-" At that moment Tooth fluttered back in holding Jack's staff

"…..o thank goodness Tooth quickly give this kid his stick before he destroys *ahem* yells at us more" said Bunny frantically while his paws inched slowly towards his boomerangs.

"I'm sorry Jack, it was Pitch remember….he….he broke it" Tooth said in a crying voice as she held out the pieces of his broken staff.

Jack turned around to stare at Tooth when he heard her voice. He stared at the pieces Tooth held and the air went back to its normal temperature, the light snowing stopped.

"We're real sorry mate" said Bunny as he hopped forward to somehow comfort the injured spirit. Jack stared at the pieces of wood in Tooth's hand for a moment longer before taking them in his pale hands.

He gently held up all four pieces and held them all together. The others stared at him with something close to sympathetic looks. Jack had his eyes shut as he stood holding the pieces together; Bunny was about to say something when Jack's eyes snapped opened revealing a bright blue glow. Then a flash of blinding white light and cold engulfed the room. When the guardians were able to see again, they saw Jack's legs buckle and him crumpling towards the ground, his staff clattering to the ground beside him. Luckily Bunny's reflexes saved Jack from meeting the unforgiving floor.

"Whoa there mate, I gotcha" said Bunny as he caught the crumpling spirit. The others were staring in shock, looking back and forth between the collapsed spirit and the repaired staff.

"OI, Snow cone, you alright," asked Bunny, shaking him a little.

Jack was not responding so Bunny assumed that fixing his staff tired him out so he put him in one of the chairs while the others talked. As soon as Jack touched the chair he curled up into a ball with a content look on his face. Soon small delicate snowflakes began to fall over Jack until the entire chair had a thin layer of snow. Tooth awed when she saw Jack, and the minis swarmed over him and began trying to make sure he was alright, Tooth just waved them off; even Sandy smiled despite his surprise at what just happened. The wind gently ruffled his silvery-white hair and he let out a barely audible hmm in response. Bunny heard it and couldn't help but let out a small smile.

"Zhat was…zhat should not have been possible!" said North in surprise.

Tooth nodded in agreement and looked at the sleeping sprite in wonder. Sandy was not listening, he was thinking. He tried to imagine what the young spirit had gone through, with and without the Guardians knowing….. How on earth is that possible, that staff is the direct connection between Jack and his powers. And it had been snapped, broken like a flimsy pencil with no care at all. Not only that, Jack could have stopped it by joining Pitch, but no he stayed strong and didn't betray the Guardians. Even through that clear physical and assumed mental agony; he refused to betray the guardians….. Even when we betrayed him, he thought bitterly. That….that should not be possible; no one spirit should be able to carry out that by themselves. Perhaps, elementals are different, he supposed.

Then again he had to admit that he was mildly impressed, being alone for over 300 years has really taught Jack how to take care of himself. ….but nonetheless, Jack is more of a mystery than any of them had ever realized, not only that but they know knew that they never had Jack's full trust…or forgiveness.

They left Jack alone for over 300 years, and now they have broken his trust once again. And now they would pay for it, all the Guardians saw how Jack was now more distant than ever before...the distrust never left his face throughout their entire conversation. They have all eternity to try to fix their mistake, now they just have to try to not mess up the small amount of forgiveness they'd already gained, and almost so quickly lost. It would be a bumpy road but, hey, their The Guardians of childhood ...and Jack is still a child…..they can do anything ...right?


End file.
